Science Week of Sept 30

Students will be working in teams this week to research the major biomes that you find in North America.  A biome is a large scale ecosystem.  Each team will be assigned a biome that they have to learn about and then share that information with the class.  Teams will create simple PowerPoint presentations to teach their classmates with.  I doubt we will have time for a quiz this week!!

Tue- Biome Research
Wed- Biome Research
Thur- Biome Research guide sheet due, Present Biomes
Fri- Present Biomes

SS Week of Sept. 30

Essential Question: How does where you live influence how you live?

Learning Target: I can make generalizations about the cultural ways of life among American Indian cultural groups in North and South America.

This week we'll be back into the blue History Alive! textbooks that students were all assigned at the beginning of the year.  We will work from Ch. 2, "Native Americans and Their Land".  Students will learn about the first native peoples to North America and how they adapted to the land.  This is a nice flow from our geography studies and into how humans interacted with the land.

Homework

Tuesday-

Wednesday-2.4 notes

Thursday-

Friday-"My Winter Count"/Reading Further page in Ch. 2 packet
Monday-procesing 2 page in Ch. 2 packet, Ch. 2 review sheet
Tuesday-Ch. 2 tutorial and study
Wednesday-Ch. 2 test

 *Ch. 2 test will be most likely be on Wednesday of next week.  There IS a tutorial online for Ch. 2 that students can complete at any time.  http://tutorial.teachtci.com/  To earn 3 extra credit points, students need to earn 100%, get a parent signature, and print out their results.  This is due on test day.

LA Week of Sept. 30

This week students will read "Sleds on Boston Common" by Louise Borden.  This is a historical fiction story in which students will read what it was like to be a child in Boston during the Revolutionary War.  The main skill focus will be on drawing conclusions.

Essential question: How can drawing conclusion s help you to sequence the plot's main events and explain their influence on future events?

Spelling Words: clear, nerve, squirt, verse, surf, lurk, year, stern, spurts, lurch, blurt, thirst, spur, engineer, jeer, sneer, dreary, squirm, swerve, yearns

Vocabulary Words: navigation, instruct, patriots, tyrant, stark, governor, inspect

Grammar: run-on sentences, correcting fragments

Graven Homework

Mon-read p.98-123 in Treasures, begin practice book p. 36-44 (due Thurs.), begin Study Island topic Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots (due Friday)

Tues-practice book p. 36-44 (due Thurs.), Study Island topic Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots (due Friday)

Wed-practice book p. 36-44 (due Thurs.), Study Island topic Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots (due Friday)

Thurs-selection test, skills test, spelling test, practice book p. 36-44 due today, Study Island topic Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots (due Friday)

Fri-Study Island topic Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots due  **No LA class today due to OSU Access 88 in the morning

Bodker Homework
Mon- Read Treasures P. 100-117
Tues- Practice p. 38, 39
Wed- Practice p. 42
Thurs-41,43   reading comprehension test and spelling test
Fri- No Homework

WRIGHT HOMEWORK

Mon- Read Treasures p.100-124, Practice Book pages 37-44 are due Thursday

Thur- Selection Quiz, Practice Book pages checked

Fri- Spelling Quiz, Skills Test, READING COUNTS QUIZ DUE

Congrats to our first RISE students!

Aharon, Avery, and Stevie have demonstrated various aspects of RISE at BWI so far this year and were rewarded at our school assembly on Friday.  They will also get to ride on the BWI homecoming float this Friday.  (All other students are invited to walk along with the float in the parade, which begins Friday at 6:00.)  These 3 RISE students, along with the others selected on other teams throughout the school, have the honor of wearing their new shirts on special RISE days to demonstrate their pride and earn fun rewards.  More students will be continuously added into this RISE group throughout the year.  Who will be next from Team BGW????

Responsibility
Integrity
Scholarly
Exploration

Look at these hard workers in SS class on their city flip books!

Yes, it's true that students ARE allowed to bring in their own personal tech devices for use in class for such projects as this.  Of course, school tech devices are available as well, including the mobile tablet lab and desktop computers. 

Yes, it's true that the flip book due date has been pushed back to FRIDAY.  The students are really enjoying this project and I want them to continue to produce quality work.  Learning targets and rubrics have been shared with each class.

Horseshoe Crabs and Red Knots

This week we have been watching a series of video clips to help further our knowledge of animal adaptations and competition for resources.  Classes are watching the videos and compiling notes as we go.  Students will be completing a 3 question take-home quiz Thursday after we finish our note taking and discussion.  Here are the videos in case you missed something in class!! (The following videos were downloaded from Teachers' Domain, http://www.teachersdomain.org. Teachers' Domain Collection funded by Booth Ferris Foundation.)

Science Week of Sept 23

We continue to explore how energy and resources are passed through an ecosystem.  Animal adaptations and symbiosis will be a focus.  We will also discuss what happens when adaptations or moving can't save a species.  When the precious balance of resources in an ecosystem is toppled, extinction can be a result.

Wed- B53 review ?'s
Thurs- Take-Home Quiz

Check Out Power School

This is a reminder for students and families to check out grades on Power School.  This is an extremely valuable tool to always know how your child is performing in each subject area.  Grades are updated as often as we can to keep you posted to the best of our abilities.  We encourage you to check this site frequently.  Students should also be responsible for logging in and seeing their progress.  Then, they should take it upon themselves to see a specific teacher for clarification or turn in the missing work.  The school office has log in information if you misplaced yours from the beginning of the school year.

The first quarter ends on Oct. 17.

Math Week of September 23, 2013

This week in Math, students will begin the week reviewing and practicing more addition and subtraction number stories.  Our concentration has been to identify what we are solving for, is there information that we don't need, and what operation will be used to solve the problem.  On Tuesday, we will be concentrating on estimation and data collection.  Students will perform a couple of experiments to gather data.  We will make estimations as to the results and then refer back to their previous knowledge of statistical landmarks to identify data.  Students will  determine which data will be used to figure averages.  We will then plot the data on a line graph.  Busy week but fun!

Homework:

Mon-   Math Journal p. 42
Tues-   Complete data table if not finished during class. MJ. 40,41
Wed-    Math Journal 46
Thur-    Math Journal p. 49
Fri-        No homework

Homecoming Week at BWIS

Monday-tie dye day...our hallways will be bright

Tuesday-twin day...dress like a friend

Wednesday-mismatch day...make it a crazy combination

Thursday-team jersey day...support your favorite team

Friday-school spirit day...wear red and gold

LA Week of Sept. 23

This week students will read "The Night of San Juan" by Lula Delacre.  This is a fictional story in which sisters help out their friend, Jose Manuel.  The main skill focus will be on summarizing using a problem and solution story map.

Essential question: What problem do the characters in this story have, and how does it affect their relationships?

Spelling Words: heart, swear, aboard, squares, swore, chart, scorn, starch, source, fare, barge, thorn, marsh, force, harsh, scarce, coarse, flare, course, sword

Vocabulary Words: forbidden, reluctant, gossiped, irresistible, elegant, mischievous, hesitation, purchsed

Grammar: sentence combining, complex sentences

Homework
Mon-read p.74-93 in Treasures, begin practice book p.28-36 (due Thurs.), begin Study Island topic Context Clues (due Friday)
Tues-practice book p.28-36 (due Thurs.), Study Island topic Context Clues (due Friday)
Wed-**Reading Counts Quiz #1 is due, practice book p.28-36 (due Thurs.), Study Island topic Context Clues (due Friday)
Thurs-practice book p.28-36 due, selection test, Study Island topic Context Clues (due Friday)
Fri-spelling test, skills test, Study Island topic Context Clues due


Bodker Homework

Mon- Read Treasures p. 74-93
          Monument final Draft due Thursday 9/26

Tues- Practice p. 29

Wed-Practice p. 35
Thur-Practice p. 32 (Students need to read to someone for one minute. record mistakes, count how
         many words read, subtract mistakes to figure the correct words read per minute.)
          Reading Comprehension test, Monument writing assignment due.
Fri-    Reading Skills test, Spelling Test

WRIGHT HOMEWORK
Mon-  Read Treasures p 74-93, PB pages 28-35 due Thursday!
Thur-  PB pages 28-35 due for homework check, Selection Quiz, Spirit Letters Due
Fri-     Spelling Quiz, Skills Test
***Reading Counts quiz due by next Friday!!

SS Week of September 23

Essential Question: How does where you live influence how you live?

Students will begin the week with applying all of their geography knowledge into a research flip book project.  Students will select a city of their choice in the western hemisphere to research.  In class, I will give students a flip book with identified areas of research and presentation, including location, culture, climate, landforms, vegetation and wildlife, resources, economics, cooperation and conflict, and transportation and communication.  Words and pictures are required on each flip book page, as well as filling up the entire page with related content.  Students can print pictures from home to include also.  During various class periods, I will have the mobile table lab and school library reserved for research and work time.  Finished projects will be presented in class on THURSDAY.

Here's our next unit of study:

I can make generalizations about the cultural ways of life among American Indian cultural groups in North and South America.

This week we'll be back into the blue History Alive! textbooks that students were all assigned at the beginning of the year.  We will work from Ch. 2, "Native Americans and Their Land".  Students will learn about the first native peoples to North America and how they adapted to the land.  This is a nice flow from our geography studies and into how humans interacted with the land.

Homework
Thursday-city flip books are due, 2.2 notes
Friday-2.3 and 2.4 notes

 *Ch. 2 test will be most likely be in the middle of next week.  There IS a tutorial online for Ch. 2 that students can complete at any time.  http://tutorial.teachtci.com/  To earn 3 extra credit points, students need to earn 100%, get a parent signature, and print out their results.  This is due on test day.

Science Week of Sept. 17th

    This week's focus is on the interdependence between all the organisms in an ecosystem.  Here is a question to help frame the situation:  How would a pond ecosystem be effected if all the algae died?  We will also be discussing energy flow in an ecosystem and how adaptations help plants and animals to survive.  There will be a short quiz on Friday!!

Wed- Homework is to answer B39 Review Questions in your science comp. book
Thur- Look over notes from the week
Fri- Quiz on Competition, Adaptation, Energy Flow

Math Week of Sept 17th

This week in 5th grade math, students will begin with a review of addition and subtraction of multi-digit whole numbers and decimals. We will move to Number stories later in the week.  We will concentrate on identifying what we are solving for, the operation we will use to solve the problem, writing open number sentences and finally finding the solution.  These problems are usually a challenge for students. We will work to decrease anxiety that follows with  solving these less popular types of problems.

Homework-


Tues-
Math Journal p. 34
Extra Credit- worksheet due Tuesday

Wed-
Math Journal p. 36

Thur-
Mj 37, 38

Fri-
Addition and Subtraction quiz
Math Jounal p.39

LA Week of Sept. 17

This week our Treasures selection Maya Lin: Architect of Memory.  We will work on summarizing and main idea and details with this Time for Kids nonfiction selection.  Remember to think about all of the important details that are in common to figure out the main idea.

Spelling Words

tuna, duty, lose, few, doom, bamboo, soothe, crooks, hoof, hooks, booth, handbook, prove, mute, amuse, plume, hue, view, bruise, union

Vocabulary Words

dedicated, equality, artifacts, exhibits, site

Tues- Read Treasures page 62-71, Practice Book pages 19-27 due Thursday, Study Island Main Idea and Details due Friday 

Wed- Work on PB 19-27 and Study Island

Thur- PB 19-27 due for homework check, Selection Quiz, work on Study Island, study spelling words

Fri- Spelling Quiz, Skills Quiz, Study Island Main Idea and Details topic due

Bodker Homework

Tues- 
Read Treasures p. 64-67
Begin National Monument writing assignment- rough draft due Thursday 9/19/2013
Study Island Main Idea and Details due Friday

Wed-
Practice Page 21 
Study Island Main Idea and Details due Friday
Writing assignment

Thur-

Monument writing - rough draft due today.
Selection Quiz today

Fri-
Spelling Test
Skills quiz
Study Island Main Idea and Details due

*****Read something you ENJOY for 30 minutes each night!!

SS Week of Sept. 17

This week we will finish up our work in the geography packet.  Students will have apacket test on Thursday.  They can certainly bring these packets home to read over again!

Homework
Tuesday-lesson 8 questions
Wednesday-review question packet and geography packet
Thursday-geography packet test
Friday-none

Nodules!

Below you see a picture of nodules on the roots of a soybean plant.  These are little pods filled with bacteria. The bacteria "fixes" nitrogen gas so that the plant can turn it into protein.  We then eat the soybean and the nitrogen/protein is passed onto us!!

Thanks to Sebastian, Carson, Jack, Audrey, Maggie, Justin, and Liam for bringing in soybean plants to share with their classes.  All of these kids got bonus points!

Rotting Food Lab

In class we have been working on scientific method skills with a project that I call the Rotting Food Lab.  This is a great opportunity to observe the process of decomposition.  We are using this project to practice making observations and logging those in a journal.  The hypothesis for this project was.....If bacteria is added to a food sample, then it  will rot at a faster pace than the sample without  added bacteria. Can you tell how we added bacteria to one sample? Is the hypothesis accurate?

sample A 9/9/13

sample A 9/3/13sample A 9/9/13

sample B 9/3/13              sample B 9/9/13

Bodker Math - Week of September 9th

We will begin this week with a quick review of multiplication and division.  Students seem to have cob webs that need to be cleared.  Many students claim that they don't remember how to multiply multi digits,  and how to solve long division math problems. Monday, we will focus on Multiplication without using lattice.   Tuesday and Wednesday, we will practice long division.  Students should be working to learn multiplication facts through 12 if they don't already know them.  Later in the week, we will begin Unit 2 in Everyday Math. Students will make estimations and learn why estimations are used and how they are helpful. We will end our week learning some new vocabulary and becoming familiar with how to add and subtract whole numbers and decimals.

Homework:

Mon- Multiplication worksheet, Study Island (square roots), due Friday
Tue- Division worksheet
Wed-Division worksheet and Unit 1 Test corrections, due on Thursday
Thur- Math Journal p. 31
Fri-Review Vocabulary, Study Island assignment due

Test Correction Requirements

All test corrections must be completed on a separate sheet of paper.  
Problems must be numbered and neat.
Students must show their work.
Test  corrections are due the next school day.
Students will receive 1/2 point for each correct answer

RISE Announcements

Responsibility
Integrity
Scholarly
Exploration

Friday, Sept. 13-hat day for $1 (all proceeds to BWI RISE program)

Friday, Sept. 20-BWI's first RISE kids will be announced and awarded t-shirts!!!

Friday, Oct. 4-pj day for $1 (all proceeds to BWI RISE program)

SS Week of Sept. 9

This week we'll continue our study of geography by analyzing climate, culture, regions, resources, transportation, economies, and trade.  We will work from a resource in class, but students will have about 5 questions to complete each day this week.  Time will be given in class, but the rest may need to be finished up at home.

Monday-Lesson 11 questions, Friday's open book Ch. 1 test was returned today
Tuesday-Lesson 12 questions
Wednesday-Lesson 13 questions
Thursday-Lesson 14 questions
Friday-Lesson 8 questions

Science Week of September 9th

Cycles in Nature is our theme of the week.  We will be examining how raw materials are recycled through our environment. The Water Cycle will be reviewed and we will also explore the Nitrogen Cycle and the Carbon-Oxygen Cycle.  Here are some questions that you should be sure you know the answers to:
Why do plants and humans need nitrogen?  How is nitrogen "fixed"?  What are the solid and liquid forms of nitrogen?  What gases are exchanged during respiration and transpiration?

Wed- Homework is page B11 review questions
Thur- Look over notes for quiz
Fri- Short Quiz on Nitrogen Cycle/Water Cycle/Carbon-Oxygen Cycle

**Bonus Points for bringing in a plant root with nodules!!!

LA Week of September 9th

This week our Treasures selection is from the novel Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  We will continue analyzing story structure by looking at characters, setting, and theme.  Inferencing will also be practiced this week.  Remember to use clues from the text plus your own prior knowledge to predict and explain events in the story.

Spelling Words
decay, paste, bride, shave, spice, greed, plead, greet, heap, paid, coach, lifetime, tow, prey, grind,
aim, folks, yolk, growth, oak, type, theme

 Vocabulary Words
injury, mournful, sympathy, delivering, shrieks, couple, decency

Mon- Read Treasures page 38-57, Practice Book pages 10-18 due Thursday
Tues- Work on PB 10-18
Wed- SRI reading contract due (Wright Only), Work on PB 10-18
Thur- PB 10-18 due for homework check, study spelling words, Selection Quiz
Fri- Spelling Quiz, Skills Quiz, Study Island Making Inferences topic due (Graven Only)

Bodker Homework

Mon- Read Treasures p. 38-57
Tues- Practice Book p. 11
Wed- Practice Spelling words
Thur- Practice page 17  Selection Quiz
Fri- Spelling Quiz, Skills quiz, Study Island (Idioms and Homonyms due)


*****Read something you ENJOY for 30 minutes each night!!

Science Week of September 3rd

We will continue working on science process skills this week.  We will focus on making observations, drawing inferences, and experimenting with variables.  Study Island for science will also be introduced this week.  I have a small quiz planned for Friday!!

Tuesday-  Redo ALOFT questions
Friday-  Short Quiz

Bodker- Language Arts Week of September 2, 2013

This week in Language Arts we will continue to discuss  character, setting, and different types of sentences.  These are all skills that we began to discuss last week in Unit 1 of our Treasures Series.
On Thursday, students will sign into Study Island and take their L. Arts Pretest.  You can expect students to have  assignments due weekly from the Study Island web site.  Each student has been assigned a password, which they will be instructed to write in their agenda.  FYI, student username is their first initial last name @bwi  password is the student id (lunch #)

HOMEWORK


MONDAY-
Read 30 minutes
Complete Reading Contract

TUESDAY-
Read 30 minutes 
Practice page 3

WEDNESDAY-
Read 30 minutes 
Grammar p. 3

THURSDAY-
Study Island assignment to be announced

FRIDAY-
No Homework!

SS Week of Sept. 3

Focus Question: How does where you live influence how you live? 

This week we'll continue our focus on geography and how people use the land.  Students will work in class using a different textbook.  There will be an open book test on Friday.  There is no online tutorial for this test. 

Homework
Tuesday-none
Wednesday-finish 3 facts and a fib assignment
Thursday-study
Friday-open book test for Ch. 1 purple book from in class work

Graven LA Week of Sept. 3

This week we'll continue to work on skills and strategies learned last week in Unit 1, Week 1 of our Treasures series.  Students will continue work in literature circles to focus on characters and setting.  We will also continue with building stamina in Daily 5, especially with introducing Word Work, Work on Writing, and Listening to Reading this week.  Students will also have access to Study Island starting this week!  Usernames are first initial and then last name @ bwi.  Passwords are student id numbers.

Homework
**Always read 30 minutes
Tuesday-4 questions in literature circle books, 2 Study Island assignments due Friday
Wednesday-2 Study Island assignments due Friday
Thursday-2 Study Island assignments due Friday
Friday-2 Study Island assignments due, Book orders are due